Tim Abshire's E*Trade Baby "Best Man" winning commercial

CBS’s Clash of the Commercials: USA vs the World asked the viewers to vote. And the viewers voted Tim Abshire’s, BA Broadcasting 1992, E*Trade Baby “Best Man” commercial the best commercial in the WORLD!

As Best Man at his buddy’s wedding, the E*TRADE Baby reassures the nervous groom about his finances and his new father-in-law, with the help of E*TRADE’s new 360 investing dashboard.

Abshire’s E*Trade baby “Fatherhood” commercial premiered during the 2012 Super Bowl.

The E*TRADE Baby reassures a new dad about planning for his daughter’s future with E*TRADE Financial Consultants — and his friend Bobby stops by for an unexpected surprise visit.

Read more about Abshire and his career.

Chicago, Cortland Repertory Theatre, summer 2011

It’s official.  Chicago directed by Bill Kincaid, professor, Theatre & Dance, at Cortland Repretory Theatre in Cortland, NY, has won the Best Production of the Season Award and Kerby Thompson, who played Billy Flynn in that production, received the Best Actor award as well. There are only three categories (production, actor and actress) and CHICAGO won two of them!

Cortland Repertory Theatre’s 2011 production of the musical Chicago was the recipient of two Syracuse Area Live Theatre (SALT) Awards, which were presented on Sunday, May 20 at the Palace Theatre in Syracuse. Hosted by the Syracuse New Times, the SALT Awards recognizes area professional, summer and community theatres in their own categories…. Chicago, with music direction by Eric Johnson and choreography by Kevin P. Hill, was directed by long-time CRT director Bill Kincaid.

Kincaid also directed nominee Souvenir and the previous SALT-nominated productions of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks in 2010, Gross
Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde in 2009 and A Few Good Men in 2008. Kincaid will be back at CRT this summer, directing the dramatic comedy The Drawer Boy, which runs from August 15 - 25.

Chicago, directed by Bill Kincaid, summer 2011

Read more about these fantastic wins for CRT and Bill Kincaid.

From an earlier post:

Nominations have just been announced for the Syracuse Area Live Theatre awards, which recognizes three categories: Production, Actor and Actress. The two shows that Bill Kincaid directed at Cortland Repertory Theatre last season received a rather remarkable 5 out of 17 nominations in those three categories, as follows. And it should be noted that Bill also starred in the two-person play SOUVENIR.

Both CHICAGO and SOUVENIR were nominated for Production of the Season.

Rin Allen (CHICAGO) and April Woodall (SOUVENIR) were both nominated for Actress of the Season.

Kerby Thompson (CHICAGO) was nominated for Actor of the Season.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Palace Theater in Syracuse on Sunday, May 20. The ceremony is open to the public and tickets may be purchased through the Syracuse New Times.

Read more about the nominations at broadwayworld.com

Constance Renee Stoetzer Weaver; ‘96 BA Journalism; ‘96 Broadcasting, has been selected as one of the  Ten Outstanding Young Professionals in Illinois by the Illiois Jaycees.  While at WIU, Stoetzer was involved in the following activities:  Courier Staff, Student Orientation Board, Student Alumni Association, Track and Field.

From Galesburg.com

Renee Stoetzer Weaver

METAMORA —Abingdon native Renee Stoetzer Weaver is one of the Ten Outstanding Young Professionals of Illinois chosen by the Illinois Jaycees.

This year’s TOYP Honors Program is Saturday, May 12 at the Springfield Hilton in conjunction with the Illinois Jaycees’ Spring General Assembly Meeting.

The Jaycees chose the young professionals because of their accomplishments in a number of fields, including financial success and economic innovation, philanthropic contribution or voluntary service, politics or government service, scientific or technical contributions or legal reform and cultural achievement.

Weaver is a 1991 graduate of Abingdon High School and a 1996 graduate of Western Illinois University. She is a former WMBD-TV news anchor and won Miss Illinois USA in 2000. She lives in Metamora and works as director of public affairs and media relations for the Heartland Partnership in Peoria.

WIU Broadcasting students attend the BEA Conference in Las Vegas.

Sam Edsall, professor broadcasting, has just returned with 7 students from Las Vegas for their first BC 379 Study Abroad trip. Students participating were all broadcasting students: Jennifer Powelson, senior, Macomb; Dan Kruzel, junior, Glenview; John Mullin, freshman, Geneseo; Nick Sintich, senior, Des Plaines; Sarah Jennings, senior, Burlington, IA; Kelsey McKenna, senior, Springfield; Adam Bachleda, senior, Marengo.

The course allowed the students to participate in the the Broadcast Education Association conference held at the Las Vegas Hotel Convention Center in LasVegas, NV. WIU students were able to talk with experts in the field, watch award-winning productions, and meet broadcasting students and professors from other universities. They also attended the BEA Job Fair where over 30 media outlets actively recruit broadcasting students.

Besides that, they were also able to attend the National Association of Broadcasters convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The large exhibition hall is filled with vendors in the broadcasting industry including Sony, Panasonic, Avid, Grass Valley, Cannon, JVC and 100’s more. They could learn tips and tricks in audio and video editing and post production. Some of the students also joined Edsall for two special events: the Media Motion Ball and the Creative Pro Users Group SuperMeet with representatives from Apple and other Final Cut Pro users.

This course offered our students a ‘real world’ broadcasting experience outside the confines of our department. The BEA sessions taught them new techniques and technologies. They saw award-winning audio, video, online and multimedia productions from other broadcasting students and faculty. They experienced the latest hardware and software in television and radio production with opportunities to try out the new gear. All these things certainly revealed to them what the broadcasting business is really about and what is expected from them.

And like all good broadcasting students, they did podcast of the conference and you can find them here.

From University Relations:

MACOMB, IL- The Performing Arts Society recognized its retiring board members and new board members and presented awards at its 28th Annual Recognition Banquet and Awards Program.

The Performing Arts Society (PAS) is the premier arts fundraising organization at WIU. Together with community partners who are dedicated to advancing arts programming at Western Illinois University, the PAS raises funds for the College of Fine Arts and Communication programming, which includes the Youth Performing Arts Series (YPAS), Summer Music Camp scholarships, programming grants to WIU faculty and staff and the Bureau of Cultural Affairs (BCA).

The PAS brought more than 6,000 school children to campus for a live arts performance this past year, and they have also provided more than $21,000 in grants to benefit the arts at Western Illinois University and in the community in the upcoming year.

2012 PAS Award Recipients	PAS Award Winners (left to right): Tammie Walker, recipient of the William E. Brattain Award for significant contributions and support of the arts in the community; Janet Rigg, representing the Prairieland Barbershop Chorus which received the Community Service Award for significant support and outstanding service to the arts in the community; retiring PAS President Matt Blankenship; Ken Hawkinson, recipient of the Ruth Watts Award for significant contributions and special service to the Performing Arts Society; and Tom Claudon from MidAmerica National Bank, who is the recipient of the Corporate Salute Award for significant corporate support of the arts in the community.
PAS Class of 2015 Board Members	New Board Members (Front row l-r): Jill Beck, Kathy Waters, Lori Baker-Sperry, Tina Saddler and Sterling Saddler. Back row: Jeff Brown, Mike Waters, Chad Sperry and Eric Jameson. New board members unable to attend are Ben Beck, Nancy and Dan Colvin and Kelly Jameson. Returning board member Julie Murphy will serve her second term with the class of 2015.
	Retiring Board Members (l-r): John and Brenda Nelson, John Meixner, Cindy and Chris McDaniel, and Janet Hopper. Not present: Steve Hopper, Barb and Jack Baily, Wanda and Cliff Foster and Beth and Fred Seaton.

2012-13 BCA E-Board

The BCA has announced its 2012-13 E-Board.

Pictured from left:  Kevin Maynard, graduate student, Masters of Business, Geneseo, IL, Box Office Manager; Angie Sullivan, sophomore, music major, Naperville, IL, Marketing; Victoria Moore, senior, music major, Macomb, IL Vice President; Trey Rock, senior, theatre major, Decatur, IL, President; Charlotte–Carli–Wilson, junior, math major, Huntley, IL, Secretary/Treasurer; Amanda Kay Kester, freshman, exercise science major, Byron, IL House Manager.

Cassie Harada

After graduating with a BA in Art in 2005, Cassandra—Cassie—Harada nee Huffman, moved to Tokyo in 2006 for a job with an English school. Her plan was to take a bit of time off from the arts and gather some life experience.

While gathering life experiences, Cassie has also gathered a husband and a daughter.

Although she had been knitting since 2001, in 2008 she gave birth to her daughter Nanami Mae, and picked up her knitting again to help her cope with the stress of having a newborn.

Cassie Harada yarn

In 2009 Cassie launched a website Fiber Republic selling needles and hand spun yarns. As fiber farming isn’t a big industry in Japan, in that same year she toured the south island of New Zealand in search of good fleeces and fiber farmers to build a relationship with. She also began designing independently, although she says her first few bits of work were pretty terrible.

By 2010 she had decided to knit every pattern she could to learn more about construction, historical aspects, technique from different countries, and anything else that would help her design. And by November of 2011 she had begun designing again and this time things were not “terrible.”

By then she had also garnered the interest of a small Chinese yarn company called Lotus Yarns. In March of this year Lotus Yarns named her their “in-house designer.” Cassie is currently in a design partnership with a woman from the England and Lotus Yarns is helping them launch their “independent designers program.”

She also helps Lotus Yarns develop new colors and new lines of yarn. Lotus often consults with Cassie based on her personal aesthetic and her experience as a knitter. She designs for them, and in fact, she says she has about 8 projects on the needles at once.

Cassie Harada hoodie sweater pattern

Cassie Harada says it’s turned into a very full-time job, and she’s very happy to be working in a creative environment, especially in an area that she has such a passion for.

Wool makes her happy! Working for a luxury yarn company is something a lot of people can only wish for in the design world, but she says she volunteered first, and after Lotus realized how serious she was and that she really has a passion for what she does, they made her an employee.

Despite the stigma that knitting is a “hobby” for most people, Cassie’s dream of making a career out of her passion has come true.

While at WIU, Cassie studied mostly with Bill Howard, Jan Clough and Julie Mahoney. Cassie says she feels like she uses her education every day—color theory, composition, 3D design—thank you Kat Myers. She also has to make sketches on a regular basis so she uses a lot of what Julie Mahoney and Jan Clough taught her as well.

Cassie says she knows in fine arts many people often end up struggling to find careers that use their degree, so she feels like she’s gotten the absolute best of what she could have hoped for.

From the School of Music.

Calling all junior and senior high school musicians. Do you know about the Summer Music Institute at Western Illinois University?

WIU camps are for junior high students–beginning seventh grade in the fall of 2012–through senior high, and includes anyone who may be entering college in the fall.

Visit  Summer Music Institute for information about camps and application forms.

• Session I Camps · June 10-15 Junior-Senior High Jazz and Senior High Drum Majors
• Session II Camps · June 14-17  Senior High Specialty Camps: Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, Saxophone, Horn, Trumpet, Percussion, Steel Pan, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Choral Conducting
• Session III Camps · June 17-23 Senior High Concert Band, Senior High Vocal/Choral, Senior High Orchestra, and Senior High Piano
• Session IV Camps · June 24-30 Junior High Vocal/Choral and Junior High Concert Band

The Performing Arts Society is offering scholarship money based on talent as recommended by a student’s music director or teacher. And the Western Illinois Regional Council has money available for students in Hancock, Henderson, McDonough, and Warren counties with the provision that a household meets certain income eligibility guidelines. Applications are available online or call the number below for more information.

Contact SM-Camps@wiu.edu or phone 309,298.1505, if you have any questions.

Adamski, Faust and Davis

Justin Davis, BA 1999 and MM 2009, conducted the University of North Carolina Greensboro University Band in a performance of Randall Faust’s Suite for Band.

Faust also performed the Heinrich Hubler Concerto for Four Horns with the UNCG Band, Horn Professor Dr. Abigail Pack, and Graduate Hornists Catherine Creasy and Jacy Burroughs.

In addition, Faust played a recital with Dr. Pack and organist Dr. Andre Lash of the UNCG faculty.

Right: Justin Davis, Honors Graduate of Western Illinois University, 1999 and Master of Music, 2009. Justin is the Director of the University Band at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he is completing his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Instrumental Conducting.

Left: Brian Adamski who was a student colleague of Davis’s here at WIU in the 1990s. Brian has recently returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He is currently a hornist in the Army Band at Fort Bragg after having played horn in the Army Band in Heidelberg, Germany for seven years and Iraq for two!